A Hero of a Different Kind
by Heartsky
Summary: Chunky doesn't feel like a hero. Not one bit. He's too soft, too shy, too afraid of fighting for that. But now he's run into a problem that no one else is willing to fix. It's his choice, to do nothing or fight for his beliefs alone, and the decision he makes may lead to his family better understanding him...and to him better understanding himself. Rewrite of "A True Hero".


**Helllloooo everybody! This is Heartsky, coming at you with a new story! Well...not exactly new. Actually, this is a rewrite of my previous story, "A True Hero". I decided to rewrite it because a lot of it, especially the earlier chapters, was not very well written. I didn't want to give up on the story but so many parts of it made me cringe I couldn't bear to leave them as they were. So, hopefully I'll be able to improve some things with this version!**

**Just for some background, this story is about Chunky, who debuted in Donkey Kong 64, and has pretty much not been heard from since. He's always been my favorite character, so I figured he deserved a story. Anyway, since Donkey Kong 64 is the only Donkey Kong game I've really played much, most of the locations, etc. are from that game (although I am including Dixie in this, so hopefully I write her alright). **

**Chunky won't be appearing too much in this first chapter, but there'll be plenty of him in the following chapters. There's not much action in this chapter yet, just some set up and fun interactions between the kongs. We'll really start in on the plot in chapter two.**

**So, anyways, I hope you enjoy this attempt at a rewrite!**

**I do not own Donkey Kong.**

After K. Rool's defeat, the Kongs were ready to cut loose and celebrate.

The past few months had been quite stressful for them; getting kidnapped, rescuing each other, stopping their island from being destroyed, and of course reclaiming the coveted hoard of golden bananas. But now it was over, and the Kongs were entering an interlude of peacefulness. None could tell how long it would last, but the Kongs were determined to enjoy it.

D.K. Island looked like a postcard. The sky was clear and bright, the sand soft and white, and the water gentle and calm. Tables with built-in straw umbrellas were scattered around the beach, and the Kongs were all enjoying themselves, eating and playing and chatting.

Dixie and Diddy ran up and down the shoreline, chasing and splashing each other playfully. Tiny, Dixie's younger sister, watched them at a distance, sipping punch from a coconut and glowering at the young couple.

She was staring at them so intensely that she didn't notice someone sneaking up behind her.

"TINY!" A voice like a foghorn came from behind her. She was so startled she began to cough and choke on her punch. "Oh, oops." The voice continued and suddenly she was being slapped on the back. Hard.

"Ow!" she managed to exclaim in between coughs. "Stop it!" She placed her hand near her throat as she coughed and punch sprayed out of her mouth.

"Eww, gross." The monkey behind her commented. She whipped her head around to find that it was Lanky. No surprise there. As she got her coughing under control, she shot him a glare.

"That was _your_ fault, Lanky!" She spat at him accusingly.

He recoiled a bit. "Sorry, sorry! I didn't realize you were drinking punch."

"Well, you should pay more attention to what's going on before you do stuff like that! Honestly. Well, actually, you shouldn't do stuff like that at all."

Lanky's face fell into a sheepish expression. "I-I know. You tell me that all the time."

"Well then, you would think that it would start to sink into your thick head by now, genius! Why exactly did you oh-so-calmly call my name, anyway?"

Lanky's sheepish expression vanished, and his mouth curled into the sly, knowing grin he wore when he was about to tease someone.

_Oh no. Please, lord no. _Tiny thought to herself.

"Weeeeelllll, I was just wondering why you looked so...sour. Shouldn't you be happy for your dear sister's lovely relationship? Don't tell me you're..._jealous of her."_

Tiny's face scrunched up in disgust. "Eww, no! I'm no more interested in Diddy than I am in a _Kremling!"_ she said emphatically.

"Oooh, that's rather harsh. So, you don't _approve_ of him?"

"No, no, that's not it!"

"Well than what is it then?!"

"I just wish they wouldn't be so...lovey-dovey. It's sickening. Their sweetness could give me _diabetes_."

Lanky grinned. "Oh, _I_ see. You just can't appreciate how romantic it all is! Poor, hardhearted Tiny. Destined to be forever alone…"

"Oh, shut up, you!" Tiny gave Lanky a whack on the head. Lanky gave a short yelp and scampered off, but not without looking back to wave at her and grin goofily. Tiny huffed in exasperation. That Kong was always messing with her head, and it was extremely aggravating! She wished that just once he would let her be.

Tiny turned her gaze out to the water, where she noticed Funky was surfing. She could only shake her head in disbelief as she watched him. How in the world could he maneuver the board over the water so easily like that?

Lanky was running out toward the water and waving his too-long arms above his head. "Fuuuunnnnkyyyyy!" he called out in an overly-dramatic way.

As Funky carefully navigated the wave he was on, he glanced over toward Lanky. "Lanky, my brother, what's going down?"

"Pllllleeeeeaaaassse come to shore, Funky! I want to talk to yoooooouuuu!" Lanky continued to flail his arms around wildly and eventually fell over ungracefully in the sand.

Funky chuckled and rode the wave back to the beach, gliding onto the sand effortlessly. "What is up, Lanks?" He asked as he picked up a towel hanging over one of the chairs to wipe off his face.

Lanky stood up and spat sand out of his mouth. "We should ask Cranky to be the deejay!" He said enthusiastically as he dusted himself off.

"Hey, great idea, bro! Let's get old man Cranky to play us some tunes!"

The two walked across the beach to where Cranky was sitting in one of his rocking chairs, scowling at the merry apes around him. "All these youngsters squealing and giggling and behaving so shamelessly! Why, back in my day we were expected to behave respectably! None of these wild parties."

"Aw, come on Cranks, lighten up! We defeated K. Rool! We deserve a little R&R!"

"Yes, you defeated K. Rool, but you useless monkeys wouldn't have gotten anywhere without _my_ potions. My oh-so-special grandson would still be stuck in his treehouse without me!" Cranky furrowed his brow. "What is Arinar?"

Lanky stared at him for a few seconds, then laughed. "No, not Arinar! R-_the letter R_-and R. It stands for 'rest and relaxation'! You need to study up on your Funky lingo, Cranky!"

"Why do you youngsters always have to come up with new ways to say things? All it does is cost you time trying to explain your "new, hip terms" to everybody. Why can't you speak plainly? And why does the sun have to be so bright! One of you should have thought to bring me some sunglasses or something! I didn't even want to come to this "party", but my useless grandson practically carried me out here! I have a right mind to file a lawsuit for kidnapping…"

Lanky coughed loudly, and Cranky glared at the orangutan sharply. "What is so important you must interrupt me so rudely?"

"Well, Funky and I were thinking that you could deejay for us!"

"Yeah, Cranky! Take it to the fridge!" Funky said. He started singing, "Walnuts, peanuts, pineapple smells!"

"Oh no! You troublemakers are _not_ cajoling me into doing _that _again!"

"Grapes, oranges, melons, and coconut shells!"

"NO!"

"Aw yeah!"

Lanky put on his best puppy face. "Pleaaaase, Cranky? It would be so much fun! And you're such a good deejay!"

Funky continued singing. "He has no style, he has no grace-"

Lanky joined in. "This Kong has a funny face!" He pointed at his face with both his hands.

Cranky interrupted their little rap session. "Cease and desist! I am not participating in that nonsense again!"

Lanky's singing died midway through "he can handstand when he needs to" and pouted. "Well, I guess we can't have music for the party, Funky."

Funky laughed knowingly. "No worries, Lanks! I've done a bit of dee-to-the-jaying before. No reason I can't now!"

Tiny, who had been observing silently until now, groaned. "Oh no, not Funky!" Having Funky deejay was a bad idea. He always played ridiculously loud music and got way too into it, bellowing cheesy puns over the mike as the music blared.

Lanky looked at her pointedly. "Oh, so you're gonna be a party pooper like Cranky? You know, I bet you're gonna end up just like him when you're older. You don't know how to have fun."

"Whoa whoa whoa! I do _so_ know how to have fun!" Tiny countered, taking a deep breath and letting her foul mood dissipate. No way did she want to be compared to Cranky!

She stood up. "Lanky Kong, I would like to dispute the claim that I don't know how to have fun! I challenge you to a dance-off!" She declared, pointing her finger at him.

Lanky grinned. "Now _that's_ more like it!"

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, Funky and Lanky had set up the turntable and Funky was ready to start the music. The other Kongs had begun to gather around and a buzz of excitement filled the air.<p>

Lanky was helping Funky with the last few adjustments to the turntable. "You about ready, Tiny?"

"Um, almost." Tiny responded distractedly. She was scanning the crowd and quickly realized that someone was absent. She turned to Dixie, who was just walking by with Diddy. "Hey Dixie, have you seen Chunky?"

Dixie scrunched up her face and bit her lip in thought. "Hmm...now that I think about it, no, I haven't seen him all afternoon. Where do you think he might be?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe we should look for him."

Dixie nodded in agreement, feeling her chest tighten a bit. She noticed a small glint of concern in Tiny's eyes. Their cousin had always been insecure and it was painful to see him so isolated. It's not that anyone purposely ignored him, it's just that it was easy for him to get lost in all the noise, he was so quiet and meek.

The sisters walked a ways down the beach before sighting him. He was lying in the sand on his stomach, his hand outstretched, a butterfly flapping it's wings gently as it rested on his finger. A few more had landed in the sand around him and on his back. They seemed to love him.

He smiled gently as he looked at the small insect on his finger. Paper-thin wings, delicate limbs...it was so small and fragile next to him, yet it didn't seem to be afraid. Perhaps it sensed that his massive size belied his gentleness, maybe it saw he wasn't the scary giant he seemed to be.

Chunky stiffened when he heard Tiny and Dixie approaching, and quickly shooed away the butterflies. "Chunky! What are doing way over here?" Tiny called to him.

"Oh, um...I don't know, I just...everyone was doing their own things and it was just so noisy and crazy, I wasn't sure what to do, so I figured I'd just hang out over here for a while."

"Oh, Chunky, you silly ape! You don't need to sit here all alone! The party's not as fun without you! Besides, Tiny's about to have a dance-off with Lanky! You've gotta come watch!" Dixie said enthusiastically.

Chunky smiled. "Alright, alright. I guess I can't miss _that._"

Chunky stood up, brushed the sand out of his fur, and the three headed back to where the rest of the Kongs were gathered.

"All right, Kongs! Now's the time! Are you all ready to get FUNKY?" Funky bellowed through the mike, gesturing toward himself and grinning.

Tiny clapped her hand to her head at Funky's awful pun, but Dixie giggled a little.

"Oh, come on, Dixie. Like he hasn't used that one at least a thousand times before."

"Well, yeah, but the way he exaggerates it so much...I don't know. I can't help but laugh."

"Tiny, Lanky, are you ready to dance your FEET OFF?" Funky continued, ready to commence the festivities.

Both of them nodded and moved into the center of the crowd. Everyone backed off to give them some space to move.

They faced each other as they waited for the music to start. With a swipe of Funky's hand, it began.

Music blared from the speakers, and suddenly Tiny was spinning and twirling and shaking her hips. The crowd immediately hushed. Her every move communicated sass and confidence.

After a while she stopped to let Lanky have his turn. His dance was something entirely different from hers. He lacked her grace and precision; flailing his arms around and bending them at awkward angles. Where precision and control were so important for Tiny, they meant nothing for Lanky. His movements were fluid, connected and spontaneous.

The other Kongs watched him in awe, amazed but at the same time a bit weirded out.

Then he stopped, and it was Tiny's turn again. The two went back and forth, moving faster and faster until they wordlessly came to the consensus that the dance-off had gone on long enough and finished.

"All right, Kongs!" Funky's voice boomed over the microphone. "Now, it's time for you to decide who the winner is!" He paused for a few moments to give the Kongs time to decide. "Who thinks Tiny should be the winner?"

Chunky felt his heart sink as pretty much every hand went up. Not that he wasn't happy for his cousin, but...Lanky had done really well too. Yes, the way he danced was unconventional, but that didn't necessarily mean it was bad. It was unfair for Tiny to win by _so _much.

"Who thinks Lanky should win?"

Chunky raised his hand, having decided it would be best to vote for Lanky so that maybe things would even out a little. But to his dismay, he was the only one who did.

The crowd cheered and Tiny beamed triumphantly, but Chunky couldn't help but notice the subtly bitter smile on Lanky's face; as if he had seen this coming. Nonetheless, the orangutan tried to shrug off his loss and shook Tiny's hand politely.

After a few more moments of celebration, things began to settle down and Funky started to play some slower music more suitable for pairs to dance to.

Candy slowly began to edge her way toward Donkey Kong, batting her eyelashes as she went. She had obviously gone to quite a lot of work getting ready for today. She was wearing a hot pink, sleeveless dress and had her fair hair styled into and updo. She was wearing shiny pink lipstick and purple eyeshadow.

She flashed her brightest smile at him and began to speak, but suddenly the ever-popular ape noticed Dixie across the beach. He rushed over to her and asked her for a dance, saying that since she was now dating Diddy, he'd like to get to know her better.

Dixie stood there indecisively, her eyes flickering between Donkey and Candy in confusion, but finally decided she couldn't refuse her boyfriend's uncle.

Diddy, Tiny, and Chunky looked towards Candy, feeling panicked. Her smile had disappeared and now she was scowling.

Tiny wordlessly looked from her cousin to her sister's boyfriend and then looked out of the corner of her eye at Candy, trying to drop the hint that one of them should offer to dance with her. Chunky quickly got the hint and walked over to Candy, offering his arm. She accepted it, though not without a few dirty glances toward Donkey Kong.

Tiny shook her head. "Sometimes I can't believe him!"

Diddy sighed. "He's my uncle and I love him, but sometimes he can be pretty thick."

"Honestly! How much common sense does it take for you to know you should dance with your own girlfriend, for Pete's sake!"

"She's not the first monkey he's done this to. When he first started dating Candy, it was like I didn't even exist. He didn't spend any time with me at all. And I've heard that back when I was born, Donkey was so preoccupied with having a nephew that he stopped visiting Cranky. It's not that he means to ignore anyone, he just gets so caught up with the new people in his life that he forgets the old ones. It's a problem of his."

"Well, he better fix it or he's not going to have his girlfriend for very long!"

Suddenly, a chorus of excited squawks filled the air. Everyone stopped dancing and looked in the direction of the noise to find it's source.

In the distance, the parrot that the Kongs knew as Squawks was frantically flying toward them from K. Rool's mechanical island.

"Listen, everybody! I've got big, big news!"


End file.
